GPSG votes on Election Act

GPSG could abolish the existing election system in which only senators have the right to vote for the executive board

This coming Tuesday, Nov. 14, the Graduate and Professional Student Government (GPSG) will hold the fourth GPSG senate meeting of this academic year. GPSG Senators will have the opportunity to vote on the “GPSG Elections Act.”

This act would abolish the existing election system in which only Graduate Student Organization (GSO) Senators have the right to vote for the GPSG Executive Board and would “hereby establish the free and open election of GPSG officers,” according to the text of the act.

The act is “a long time coming,” according to GPSG President Taylor Valley.

“The GPSG represents all of the graduate students therefore all of the graduate students should have a say in who is on the executive board. Since 1999, GPSG Executive Board has acted as primary representatives of graduate student interests, but has done so without direct consent from a plurality of the student body,” Valley said.

GPSG represents all enrolled graduate students regardless of GSO affiliation. The GPSG functions in the same way as that of the SGA who represents the student body as a whole.

“I was surprised when I first learned that graduate students couldn’t vote for their only elected representatives,” Valley says. “Giving everyone an equal say in the process is the right thing to do, and it will strengthen GPSG’s presence in the community.”